Students and political activists hold first-ever Hengqin assembly

Dozens of students and political activists gathered on Friday for the first-ever assembly at the Hengqin Island campus. With the aim of discussing academic freedom and an alleged sexual harassment case recently revealed in the University of Macau, Jason Chao and other political activists, joined forces to engage students in political and social debate.
On Friday night, about 40 people, mainly students, gathered outside the Central Library building and passers-by stopped to hear activists speak.
But there were those who came knowing exactly what was to be discussed. Carol Lam, a UM student, was amongst Friday’s assembly participants, attending based on fears about the state of academic freedom in Macau.
She believes that professor Bill Chou’s case was not handled in the most transparent way. The former UM professor went through disciplinary proceedings for allegedly imposing his political views on students. He was suspended without pay for 24 days, and later this Summer, Chou was informed his contract would not be renewed.
Carol Lam acknowledged the university’s claims that it acts as a politically-independent entity and respects its students’ views, but her doubts remain: “I can’t see any respect toward academic freedom. If they were really politically independent, they would focus more on scholars’ research papers, and on their academic contributions to intellectual [knowledge] rather than on what the professor says during his classes.”
Wearing a bonnet with two sentences written in Chinese, one about supporting academic freedom and the other against political oppression, Carol does not see herself as an activist. “I don’t like categorizing people. I participated in the event as these are issues of everyone’s concern. Everyone should discuss these issues; they concern their daily lives” she remarked.
Carol Lam thinks Macau’s citizens are still not given many opportunities or means to voice their opinions to the government. Apart from discussion forums or debates, she said that Macau’s citizens rely mainly on the media, “because the government will focus more on the media rather than listening directly to citizens.”
Another UM student, George Ku, learned of the event through social media. Academic freedom is a concept that he’s not quite familiar with. Upon hearing that a professor was allegedly sacked over imposing or sharing his political views with students, George felt the need to know more about the case. “I do not have a fully-formed opinion on the matter. As a student I know I can’t do much, but I want to have a better understanding of what is happening,” he told reporters.
Political activist Jason Chao dubbed the event as “historical,” since it is the first-ever
assembly to be held at the Hengqin campus, now under Macau’s administration.  “Authorities did not impose any restrictions on our assembly, although we’ve received information that one of the rector’s assistants was planning on [suggesting] to ban our activity,” he said.
Jason Chao clarified that organizers did not “downgrade” the event from protest to assembly. “We are holding a protest but in the form of these [discussion] panels. It is meaningful and more attractive for students,” he said.
Chao added that they take different actions according to local circumstances and the surrounding environment. “We are on a university campus, and we think university students should engage more in deliberations, so [that’s why] we’re holding these three discussion panels,” he stated.
Chao assured that they tried to engage UM’s students associations, as well as other scholars, such as Agnes Lam. “Nobody replied to our invitation, except for the rector’s office, who declined to attend the event,” he remarked.
Professor Bill Chou, who also attended the assembly, recalled that people in Macau were surprised when a professor accused of sexual harassment by a female student was given a 12-day suspension without pay, when UM applied a 24 day suspension in his case. “People feel that such a handling of the two different cases is unfair to me,” he said.
Bill Chou believes that the event did not grab the attention of many students, as they “worry about their attendance’s implication on their grades.” “Probably because it’s difficult for citizens to protest here, and students think their grades are at stake and fear the response of the university’s management,” he added.
Friday’s assembly served to discuss academic freedom, sexual harassment cases, and also current campus conditions, since students have complained of the building’s alleged sub-quality construction.

Um rector assures academic freedom is respected

The rector of the University of Macau, Wei Zhao, was invited to last Friday’s assembly on academic freedom, sexual harassment and campus conditions organized by local pro-democracy activists. While the rector did not attend the event, Jason Chao said that a reply from Wei Zhao’s cabinet was received stating that the university “is determined to provide a safe, healthy and productive environment” to both students and staff, “with a guarantee of academic freedom and zero tolerance to harassment of any kind.”